


While We Froze Down Below

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Challenge Response, Challenge: Show_Goes_On, Cold, Fade to Black, M/M, Mission Fic, One Shot, Pre-Relationship, Prompt Fic, Season/Series 05, Snow, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-27
Updated: 2009-01-27
Packaged: 2017-10-21 12:20:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/225106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><i>Was a long and dark December<br/>From the rooftops I remember<br/>There was snow<br/>White snow<br/>Clearly I remember<br/>From the windows they were watching<br/>While we froze down below</i></p><p>-Coldplay, Violet Hill</p><p> </p><p>Show goes on challenge with the prompt, "John/Ronon" and "First time, "Too cold to start a fire,""</p>
    </blockquote>





	While We Froze Down Below

**Author's Note:**

> _Was a long and dark December  
>  From the rooftops I remember  
> There was snow  
> White snow  
> Clearly I remember  
> From the windows they were watching  
> While we froze down below_
> 
> -Coldplay, Violet Hill
> 
>  
> 
> Show goes on challenge with the prompt, "John/Ronon" and "First time, "Too cold to start a fire,""

As his breathing deepened and he slowly slipped into the darkness, John tried to figure out where his day had gone wrong.

While visiting a market planet with an Athosian trading group, Lorne's team spoke to a group of Takkarans, who described visitors to their home planet the week before. The group of rowdy warriors sounded like Ronon's descriptions of his people, and Lorne hurried to send a message back to Atlantis. Ronon's whole face lit up when John told him the news, and he insisted that they set off for Takkar as soon as possible.

Takkar was an allied planet that they had met through the marketplace, full of farmers and herders, and so there wasn't much need for a fully armed squad. Teyla was still off duty because of her pregnancy, and Rodney was recovering from his latest allergy attack, but given the docile nature of the Takkarans, Sam had given John and Ronon permission to go alone.

What they hadn't counted on, upon stepping through the gate, was a blinding wall of snow and a cruel wind that took their breath away. "What the hell is going on here?" John yelled, gasping from the shock.

"Winter!" Ronon yelled back.

John rolled his eyes. Obviously it was winter. What he wanted to know was why the hell no one had warned him about the chances that they might walk into a blizzard from hell.

"Where's the DHD?" he screamed.

"Should be 20 feet strait ahead," Ronon shouted.

John thought he saw Ronon gesture in a general forward motion, but everything was obscured by white. "Are you sure?"

Ronon grunted affirmatively and took a step forward, off the small rock dais. John quickly reached out and grabbed one of the belt loops on the Satedan's long coat. No way was he letting them get separated in this storm.

John wasn't sure how long they walked but eventually Ronon stopped. John peaked out from behind him and saw a large pile of snow. Ronon reached out with one arm and swiped the snow aside, revealing a few DHD keys. Almost as quickly they were covered with a thin layer of sleet.

John stepped around Ronon and swiped at the DHD. The keys were again revealed for a brief moment, but it was long enough for John to find the first symbol that would get them back to Atlantis.

Swiping it clear again, just to confirm it, John pushed the button. The symbol glowed and john fancied that he could hear, faintly, the groaning of the Stargate over the storm.

Suddenly the comforting bulk that was Ronon moved away. Startled, John looked around, frantically searching for a new foe. All he could see, however, was snow, grey-white and swirling everywhere. Ronon moved until he was in front of the DHD, facing John, and creating a slight windbreak. With the intensity of the storm around them, it didn't help much, but it was better than nothing.

John swiped a patch of DHD clear, searching for the next symbol he needed. He wasn't even positive that the chevrons he was hitting were engaging, but he punched out the sequence anyways.

When the seventh symbol was hit, John waited a moment for the puddle splash and then signaled to Ronon to move out. "Let's go!" he yelled, hoping the Satedan could hear him over the furious storm.

John followed as Ronon walked, hoping that the Runner could still sense the right direction through the snow. After what seemed like ages, Ronon stopped abruptly, and John stumbled in the effort to stop. He peeked out from around Ronon's sheltering bulk and saw, less than a foot away, the edge of the Stargate.

The sight caused John's heart to sink. There was no familiar blue puddle, no welcoming glow, no questions over his ear piece from Sam or Chuck. There was just more snow.

"Alright, let's try again!" John yelled, tugging on Ronon's coat. "Maybe I miss-hit one of the keys!"

He thought he heard Ronon grunt, and they turned around, the Runner's unerring sense of direction leading them right back to the DHD. John repeated his earlier exercise. He carefully uncovered each chevron key and carefully punched it down, squinting closely to see if they glowed. Once he keyed in the seventh symbol, he cleared off the center button and pressed it firmly.

Again Ronon led the way towards the gate. John's fingers were completely numb, but he threaded them through the loops in Ronon's coat again, determined not to lose contact with his teammate. As they trudged through the snow, John strained to hear the whoosh and ripple of the Stargate, but he was listening in vain.

Again Ronon stopped, and John ventured to peek out into the snow. The silence in his earpiece told him what his eyes couldn't yet make out. There was no wormhole. Both men stared in silence for a long minute before an extra-cold gust of wind made John shiver. He tugged on the Runner's coat. "Okay, so the gate's a bust. Now what do we do?"

"Wasn't there a hut near the DHD, where their guard watched for incoming wraith?" Ronon yelled back.

John thought back to the mission reports. Stackhouse and his team weren't huge on the details, but he thought there had been something about a hut. "Yeah, I remember it. Do you think you can find it without getting us lost?"

Ronon simply grinned and turned around again. It seemed to John that they were aiming slightly to the left of the DHD, though he didn't see it to either side as they walked. After about twenty minutes of walking, Ronon stopped again, and John let go. He was running his hands over a planked wooden wall, as though feeling for a handle, and John joined him.

He wasn't sure which of them pushed it, but some hidden lever was tripped, and a dark opening appeared. Ronon drew his blaster and quickly ducked inside. Hefting his P-90, John followed suit.

The inside of the hut was just as cold as the outside, but the blinding white was replaced by a gloomy black. A layer of dirty snow on the ground hid any signs of recent habitation, and John turned on the penlight on his gun as Ronon closed the door.

"Alright, so we've been here probably an hour, so we've got another three until Sam dials in to check on us." John kept his tone matter-of-fact. "As Rodney's explained more than once, the fact that we were able to dial in means that the gate works, so we can bypass the DHD with a Jumper. When Sam calls, we'll have her send Lorne through with one, and we'll be home in time for dinner. All we have to do is wait for her call."

"Okay," Ronon grunted affirmatively and swiped his foot over a patch of floor, clearing away the snow. Taking off his coat, he laid it down on the cleared patch.

"Aren't your arms cold?" John asked.

"Ground is colder than air," Ronon replied. "Better to have a good, insulated, water-proof barrier beneath you than something around you."

"I'd prefer both." John rummaged through his vest pockets, awkwardly juggling his P-90 for light. "There's supposed to be a thermal blanked in one of these."

"Didn't yours get ripped when we were on 89X?"

It took John a minute to remember which planet 89X was - Rodney had slipped on the bank and fallen into a small ice-melt river. "Yes, but I replaced it once we got back." John continued rummaging in his pockets, his numbed fingers making it hard to work the flaps.

"I usually keep it in the second pocket from the bottom on the left side…" frustrated, John finally gave up. "Forget it. Damn things barely work anyways."

"Sit down, Sheppard," Ronon replied with a smile. There was a decent sized chunk of coat free, so John sat down beside his teammate. Ronon leaned over a bit so that their shoulders were touching. "If we stick together we'll stay warm enough."

John's cheeks flushed just slightly, and he hoped that his skin was red enough from the cold to hide it. Though they were teammates, John rarely had a chance to be so close to Ronon, and even the cold didn't entirely mute his reaction to the proximity.

John glanced sideways at Ronon, but the Runner was sitting with his eyes closed, apparently in meditation. Their close proximity didn't seem to be affecting the other man at all.

Well, if Ronon didn't care, then John didn't either. He closed his own eyes and tried to emulate the meditation breathing that Teyla had taught him. There were stories of monks surviving weeks in the snow through meditation, so maybe this would help him last until Sam checked up on them.

Breathing deeply, both men unconsciously leaned into each other's warmth as outside the hut, night fell and the temperature dipped lower and lower.

\--A--

As John's mind slowly dragged him out of the darkness of unconsciousness, he became aware of a steady beeping. He knew that beeping… he was in the Atlantis infirmary. As he became more and more aware, John felt a warm blanket over him and heard soft humming providing a low counterpoint to the EKG monitor.

When his eyes finally opened, John saw the expected infirmary ceiling, and he smiled at the sight of Teyla rocking her son and humming a lullaby.

"Hey," he managed to croak out. "Sounds nice."

"John!" Teyla smiled widely at him and quickly left. She returned in moments with Sam and Dr Keller.

"Hey Doc, Sir," he tried to salute, but his fingers just twitched uselessly on the blanket.

"Hey, Colonel," Sam smiled. "We got a bit worried when you didn't check in on time, so we sent a MALP through. When we saw the storm Lt Lorne immediately volunteered to take the Jumper on a rescue mission," she informed him quickly.

John smiled; just as he expected.

"You two did a good job of keeping warm," Keller added, her warm tone belying the worry in her eyes.

"Still got… all… toes?" John asked. It was getting harder and harder to speak through the darkness.

He heard more than one stifled giggle.

Keller's voice was less concerned and more amused. "Yes, Colonel. You and Ronon both get to keep all your fingers and toes."

"Good." His eyes had slipped closed at some point, and John couldn't seem to get them to open again.

In the darkness he heard Teyla's teasing voice. "Yes, it was fortunate that you two cuddled so closely together."

John made a mental note to get back at her for that comment later, when he wasn't slipping into unconsciousness. "'t was cold. V- very… cold." That was his story and he was sticking to it. John heard giggling again as he slipped further and further into the comfort of sleep.

"Of course, Colonel," one of the girls said, "Of course."


End file.
